Counterespionage always shows 3 lvl+ why i'm not sure myself. In war you automatically gain +1 lvl of counterespionage. Simulator is correct but in game play it doesn't necessary means that the ratio of successful and unsuccessful infiltration or counterespionage will be in that order.

It is not the same, in espionage there is the "factor of luck" so sometimes, rarely but it can happen, someone with 4 lvl lower espionage than your counter can infiltrate his spies and the opposite you can spy someone 20 times in a row and then loose a lot of spies with just 1 spy in defense.